Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G J Harper.
A dynamic microbiological test has been used to assess the safety of sealed containers for use in laboratory centrifuges. When 26 models of containers (buckets or rotors) were examined 27% failed to contain aerosols. Some of the reasons for the failures are described.
The generation of aerosols and the contamination of surfaces arising from some equipment used to automate tasks in the microbiology laboratory have been assessed using a microbiological test method. When used for the designed purposes none of the equipment is likely to present any significant aerosol hazard. Some of the equipment gave rise to surface contamination, and it is recommended that decontamination of work surfaces should be carried out at frequent intervals.
The effect of relative humidity and temperature on the survival of bovine rotavirus in airborne particles was investigated. Bovine rotavirus was found to be stable at low and high relative humidity; infectivity was lost more rapidly at high temperature than at lower temperature.
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Some potential hazards of three commercially available blood collecting devices are compared with the conventional syringe method. A simulated venous system using blood containing a bacterial spore tracer was used to estimate surface and aerosol contamination. No appreciable difference in potential hazard to the operator was demonstrable by the methods employed.
The generation of aerosols and the contamination of surfaces arising from the use of equipment for the filling, diluting in, and washing of microtitre plates used in ELISA techniques have been measured. With the exception of vacuum pump outlets no significant amount of aerosol was generated by any of the equipment tested. The fitting of a small air filter to vacuum pump outlets eliminated any hazard from this source. Some low level contamination of surfaces was detected. Except when working with known, or suspected, highly infectious materials there is no evidence to support the need to operate the equipment within a microbiological safety cabinet.
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The generation of aerosols and the contamination of surfaces arising from the use of a number of special purpose centrifuges have been measured. Except when sealed containers were used all the equipment tested generated airborne particles and contaminated surrounding surfaces. The magnitude of this contamination was shown to be associated with several factors, and it could be considerably reduced by the use of sealed containers, and by fitting air filters. The significance of these findings and their application are discussed.
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Newcastle disease virus has been shown to survive when airborne in small particles, both in the laboratory and in the open air. Field outbreaks have been studied and viable virus has been recovered from the open air short distances downwind of infected premises. Vaccination of birds leads to a great reduction in the amount of virus liberated into the air.
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